It’s deadline day around Europe, at least for the top European leagues as the 2026 winter transfer window will come to an end on Monday, February 2. Even if this transfer window hasn’t seen tons of major moves, there is still time for clubs to make late moves that could shape their squads for the rest of the 2025–26 season, ahead of the 2026 World Cup that will take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico starting from June 11.
Players have their last chance to hope for a move while others might be affected by the clubs’ late decisions. USMNT striker Ricardo Pepi, for example, saw a potential move to Fulham fall through after the two clubs agreed on a deal on Sunday, but PSV were unable to secure a replacement before the close of the transfer window. Pepi is now set to remain at the Dutch club at least until the end of the season. Most of the top European leagues will close their windows at the same time, here’s what you need to know ahead of the Deadline Day:
Closing times
- 🇮🇹 Serie A: 2 p.m. ET
- 🏴 Premier League: 2 p.m. ET
- 🇩🇪 Bundesliga: 2 p.m. ET
- 🇪🇸 LaLiga: 11:59 p.m. ET
- 🇫🇷 Ligue 1: 2 p.m. ET
- 🏴 Scottish Premiership: 11:59 p.m. ET
Free agents and loan deals
Free agents will still have time to agree with a new club even after Monday’s deadlines but the teams will have to issue their lists before February 5. It means that players need to agree with their new clubs before that day to play in the second part of the 2025-26 season. Loan deals work as the permanent ones. In the English Premier League, teams are limited to two domestic loans and a maximum of four during the season.
Extra time
As has happened multiple times over the past years, clubs can also make deals official after the deadline, but they need to agree and fill the so called “deal sheet” first, which provides them two additional hours to write all the paperwork between the clubs and the player. This can only be applied to the domestic transfers in the English Premier League and EFL, meaning that international transfers will have to be done via the FIFA Transfer Matching System (TMS).
